CHAPTER 1
(Legends of Tomorrow 2x15 and 2x17)
Tell me ho I died
Leonard Snart was in many prison cells during his life. They mostly had metal grilles, sometimes bare walls. But he had never been in glass one, or three-sided glass one. He could see through them, his captors could see his. Clever. They could see every step, he couldn't escape, just look through the glass and hope to appear on the other side. He didn't.
The metal door of the room behind the glass opened, and the blonde women, who had worked with Mick, came in. "All right, Malcolm is back in 2016, where he belongs." she said as she stepped sharply around the glass walls.
"In prison?" His roommate, Damien Darhk, asked sarcastically.
"No." She retorted off and then smiled contently. "His crappy apartment." She enjoyed it.
Leonard bounced off the glass wall where he leaned and came against the blonde. "And what do you plan for two of us?" He stood as close as possible to the glass as he could. Blond girl did the same. "We're dead in 2017, remember?" he added sarcastically. What surprised him was the expression of a blonde. In her eyes she was sadness and ... pity. He hated pity.
"I'm not taking you back to 2017." she replied. She didn't speak to them, she only spoke to him. It sounded like she wanted to calm him down. Then, her gaze hardened, it was so cold that Leonard could envy her. And it was shot at Darhk. "Let's go!" she commanded it to him, and Darhk frowned.
"Why me?" Darhk asked with a tone of a defiant child.
"Because he has something else to do here." she rolled her eyes. Then she turned to Leonard again. "Into the corner!" Leonard didn't obey. "Into the corner, or I let the sleeping gas drain into the cell." she valued through her teeth. She lied, he can saw it in her eyes. But he was curious about the task what he has to do for them. And so he did what she wanted. "Hands on the wall to I can see them." He put his hands on the cold glass. He waited until the sounds of the steps will be interrupted by hydraulics of closing door and put his hands down. He was alone, in a space/time ship. He had plenty of time to think. How did he get here at all?
Yet yesterday he only wanted to steal the Kahndaq dynasty diamond. He just fine-tuned the last details of robbery when two strangers appeared with story about time traveling and his future death.
Door hydraulics interrupted the silence again. He looked up. It wasn't a blonde this time, it was his former partner, Mick. "So Darhk gets a sexy blonde and I get a ugly dead men? That's not fair." Leonard said bored andú leaning against the glass walls. Mick raised his eyebrows. "I killed you." Leonard explained.
"That was my double. He would disappear anyway."
"Great." Leonard turned his eyes, but Mick knew him well to know Leonard was relieved.
Mick sighed. "We need to talk."
Leonard laughed. "About what? How you will kill me?"
Mick frowned. "That's what they told you?"
Leonard rolled his eyes. "Okay, how you will manipulate me to kill myself for you. It's the same." Leonard said.
"You're wrong." Mick muttered. This time it was Leonard's turn to frown. He wanted an explanation. "This team ... changed us. First you, then me." Mick began to look on the ground. Leonard tilt his head to one side. "We worked together. To saved the world." Mick laughed. Then his expression darkened. "Then we set out to destroy a machine called Oculus. Something like a time supercomputer. It's belonged to time pigs, time masters. And with this machine they were controlling all of us." It sounded like them. They never let anyone to control them. Well, Leonard didn't, Mick let Leonard to control him. And Leonard's sister, Lisa, occasionally. "But there was a fail-safe and one of us had to stay there."
"So you forced me." Leonard said bitterly.
"No! You decided yourself!" Mick growled angrily. Then he took a deep breath to calm down. That was new. "It was me, you or blondie. And you decided. You didn't give us any choice." Mick added, and his look fell on the floor again.
Leonard grimaced. He supported his right hand with his left one and he tapping with his fingers on his chin as he walked over to the glass wall where Mick stood. "It doesn't sound like me." he said resolutely and glared at Mick. Leonard looking for any evidence of lying on Mick's face, nervous looking around, small twitching of his face, but nothing. "I would convince blondie to stay on my place." he added confidently. Still nothing.
"You would never have left Sara there!" Mick murmured, as if it were brighter than the sun.
Leonard smiled skepticlly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why?" And suddenly Mick started to look around, anywhere but on Leonard. Something is taunting him. Something about the blondie. Something ... No! "No! No, we don't have..." His face was shriveled. "feelings, Mick!" he finally sputted out.
"As I said, you changed."
"No!"
Mick sighed. Then he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out a folded sheet of paper. "I found this in my room right after... that incident on Oculus." Mick said quietly as he stared at the paper. "Perhaps it will convince you." he added and stretching the leaf through a thin slot to Leonard. Leonard stared skeptically on it for a few seconds then looked at Mick. He gripped the letter between his forefinger and middle finger and pulled Mick out of his hand without looking away. "I'll come back later." Mick added and left.
xxx
When Thawne told Leonard that he will die befause of some group nae Legends, he laught into his face. But then Thawne gave him a prove to believe to him. He showed him a future. Weird hologram where Leonard fight with a very fast men in red suit. And he used some futuristic gun. After that he stop laught and start listening.
They give him that gun and took gim into the past. Simple task, get a magical spear from that idiots which can rewrite the reality. And because they known him as ally, it should be simple to got an informations. All what he need was found the stupidest one. And suprisedly it was Mick. His formal partner which Leonard din't saw from last year, after two years of silence.
Less suprasilly, Mick was verycommunicatived, because he thought Leonard is just a halucination. He said Leonard isn't here. He said he's dead, like nothing happend. It was the first time after twelve years when Leonard lost hil cool. And than Leonard hit him.
At that moment Leonard (pochcopil) he will do anything to not die.
xxx
He looked on that paper for loong minutes. He was curious snd scared at the same time. When they told him he will die, he automaticaly thought they made him. But now he had a prove in his hands he did it voluntarily. That after all what he went throught, what he did, he may have a small piece of good inside. And the curiosity was stronger than fear.
His fingers shaked whe he opened it. He recognise his handwriting. It was a goodbye letter. It was short. No addressing or personal things, that wasn't his style. Just simple apologize to Mick, he didn't know why. And explanation, he known he will die on Oculus. He tried to escape, but it doesn't work. Same as his first plan to change his tragic past. So he accept his past and his future. He didn't know what half of thing which he wrote about means. But what suprised him was last two sentences: You had a true. Look after her to she doesn't do any foolishness.
He had really changed. He cared about others. His future himself made him sick.
xxx
To outsmart Mick was simple. Everything was getting worse when Thawne come with third member of that their villain society. At next moment they stood between trenches agains not one, but two group of Legends. And two Micks. And Leonard was willing to do anything to save himself.
He get used to with that gun fast and used it a lot in fight. And surprisingly too against Mick, which target his weird gun on Darhk. Leonard didn't care about life of his present partner, but he needed him. Leonard warned Mick to let him go, but he refused. Mick didn't refused just listening, he refused him, Leonard Snart. He choosed that team, how much he changed. And sudenly Leonard wanted that stupid and violent Mick which listen any of his command, back. Now in front of him stand different man. Mick was gone and Leonard had blackout. So Leonard pressed the trigger.
He understood what he just did when he saw Mick's dead body fall to the ground. He lost his cool. He feared so much of his death that he had killed a long-time partner in cold blood to save a man he barely knew. He definitely needed a spear now. With the help of spear he cam bring Mick back like nothing happened. And he can also make a better life for both of them. And his sister. No agresive father, no fire, no crime.
A man in some high-tech armor screamed for a fallen partner. Leonard's anger rise again. Mick had replaced him for this men. He pointed on man with the gun, but before he could hot fire, a flame appeared and hit him in the shoulder. Leonard dropped a weapon out of his hands and he himself fell hard on the ground. For a moment he was confused, but what happened? He looked up and his formerly murdered partner, Mick, stood above him. And the stock of his strange gun quickly approached to Leonard's hea-
And then nothing.
xxx
It took about an hour until Mick to return. He was quiet as he walked in. He just stood there waiting what Leonard will say. Leonard stood up and came to the glass wall, holding the letter in the air. "Do you think that will convince me?"
"It's your handwriting, isn't it?"
"Yes." Leonard stretched, looking at Mick. "So what would you have to give the blondie?"
"The ring you get from our first work." Mick answered and waited. But Leonard was silent. He was curious, but he refused to show interest. Mick knew it, he knew him very well. So he did the first step. "You betrayed me first. For the team. For this team." Leonard leaned his head to another side, a sign of interest. Mick went to the corner where the glass wall was connected to the metal one, and sat down. "I didn't want to join at first, but you persuaded me. I wanted to sacrifice them on the first problems and fly home. I offered you to fly with me, but you haven't been listening to me." Mick smiled, as if he were remembering a fun childhood story. "Then you left me in the middle of nowhere. You were supposed to kill me, bu you didn't do it. And it was a mistake." Mick leaned back against the metal wall. "After that I did a few bad things to you." he murmured quietly. Then he grinned again. "When you caught me, you locked me here. I wanted to kill you. You all. And it was Sara..." So her name is Sara. "...who came here and persuaded me to not do it." he smiled. "We were here, just like we are now." he pointed to them.
"Yeah. Very funny." Leonard rolled his eyes. He wasn't accustomed to someone has longer speaches than himself. Especially when taht someone was Mick.
Mick grinned at his impatience. "Yeah, we had a little fist interview. For me, it was one-sided." Leonard grinned this time. "When I came back, you and Sara were... closer." Leonard frowned. Closer? "I was jealous. I tried to get between you, but it was too late. You had been obsessed with her before, no wonder, she's sexy." Leonard sweated his lower lip, raised his eyebrows and nodded his head for confirmation. Mick was right, and Leonard had to admit it, Sara is sexy. "I thought you liked her just because she was a challenge. Strong and inaccessible." That sounded like Leonard. "But when I came back, you both fell head over heels in it." Mick laughed out loud. Mick Rory laughed, and after all of today's traveling in time and a fight with strange guns, this was the strangest thing what Leonard had ever seen. "But you both were afraid to pull your head out of your ass." he continued as he reassured himself a little. "And before you finally decided, it was too late." He sighed. "The only reason I stayed with the team is that you wanted me to look after her." he finally said, waiting for Leonard's reaction.
"So after all I get mad because of woman which I won't get in the end." Leonard laughed with his typical sarcasm.
Mick frowned. He opened his mouth and was about to say something when the door opened and there was a woman they had talked about it all the time. Sara. She was looking at both of them, and a small wrinkle, that Leonard couldn't call anything other than cute, appeared on her forehead. Then she looked at Mick. "It's time. Ray will explain how to use the flasher. It works pretty well." she told him. Mick nodded and stood up.
"What about the task you got for me?" Leonard called.
"That was it." Mick replied.
"A chat?" Leonard laughed incredulously. Then something came to him. "That chat in the strip-bar last winter. I haven't heard about you for two years, and suddenly you want to meet me. And you had a strange speach about being a good man." Leonard frowned. It was only a conjecture, but it make a sense. "It was you. You traveled through time to talk with me. So you can say goodbye after my death. You wanted an absolution. But you couldn't tell me what will happen to me. But now I know." Leonard tilted his head and smirked badly. "And you hope I will forgive you for leaving me there. For let me die." Mick stared at him, with the hope in his eyes. And Leonard hit. He wanted to hurt. "But I won't. You have left me. And that doesn't forgive."
"I'm not waiting for the absolution. I just wanted to say goodbye." Mick said and bowed his head as though he was ashamed and left.
Sara just stood and looked at the closing door. Then she turned to Leonard. "You didn't have to!" she frowned at him.
"Well, well. So cool?" Leonard grinned. "Mick said we were close." Leonard added and Sara frowned even more. Leonard couldn't help. It was her fault, she had changed him, according to Mick. He had the right to hurt her now. He wanted to hurt her. And maybe have a little fun with it. "Did we sleep together?" he asked innocently. Mick already told him they were afraid to admit it, so they wouldn't slept together. But he wanted to see her hurt expression.
But Sara smiled grimly. "We kissed." she said slowly and victoriously. Not because the kiss was a win, but because she knew his game and she knew how to play it with him. She really knew him. Pretty well.
Leonard smiled too. He finaly understood why he liked her. But he hasn't finished yet. "All for a kiss?" He asked mockingly. Sara raised her eyebrows and waited for what he would say next. "Well, I hope it was worth it." he added too sarcastically.
Sara put her hands on her chest, a defensive stance, sniffing her nerves. "Yeah. You became a hero, so sad." Maybe he was too mean.
"Did you cry for me?" he asked after a moment and a little more subtle, he doesn't even know why.
Sara put her hands down and stared at him in disbelief. "Of course I did."
"Fine." snapped Leonard. He wanted to end this chat. But then he got an idea. Perhaps he could prevent his death without a spear if he had more information. It would be unnecessary to take this round, she is smarter than Mick. She would find out, and she wouldn't tell him anything. She knows him well for that. So he went straight to it. "Tell me how I died."
Sara sighed. "Rip, that briton, recruited us to stop an immortal tyrant named Vandal Savage. You went into it with lateral intentions, but in the end you turned out to be a hero." smiled Sara and then paused. She started to remember. "We tried to stop him at different times, but it always went wrong. But finally we caught him and take him to time masters. Did Mich told you abou them?" she asked. Leonard noded. "Well, but they betrayed us. And we found out that they had worked with Savage all that time. Let him to subdue the world. And to make sure it would go by the way they wanted to, they used a machine called Oculus. It influenced our decision. They controlled us and we did exactly what they wanted. We decided to destroy it, but there was a fail-safe that someone had to hold down. Ray was holding it first." Leonard frowned, but before he could ask who is it, Sara answered. "That's the one with the flying suit. Mick stunned him and replaced him. And you have stunned Mick." she sighed. "And then you forced me to take him away. He wasn't the lightest one." she shrugged, but Leonard heard the pain in her voice. She was sorry. But it wasn't enough for him. He wanted punish her. For all what she did.
"And you left me there."
"I wanna come back for you, but Rip didn't let me." she said.
"Oh yeah. But don't worry. Now that I know how it happens, I can assure you I wouldn't do it. I won't die for a few idiots like you." Leonard said resolutely. "Hero ain't on my resume." he added for the effect.
Sara frowned. "I know it's difficult
for you to fathom,..." she began. "...when I'm from, you aren't just considered hero... You're legend." she said surprisingly calmly. Then she leaned closer to the glass. "You are one of us." She stared at him for a moment. But then she rolled her eyes and said, "Damn, I'm sound like Rip." and left the room.
"I won't do it!" Leonard shouted at her and hit by his palms into the glass. But Sara was already gone.
xxx
Mick returned, in his left hand a gun, in a strange thing in right one. "What is it?" Leonard nodded to that.
"Nothing to worry about now. Come." Mick snapped and knocked on the cell's door opener.
"Well, well. Someone is angry." Leonard laughed as the glass door opened and he came out.
Mick stared at him for a moment. "Let's go." he said at last, gesturing with his right hand, where were strange thing, to the other door.
"Where are we going?" Leonard asked as they walked through empty and quiet ěděl, takže jediné, co bylo slyšet, bylo kovové cinkání jejich bot o podlahu.
They came to a room with a smaller space/time ship. And the all members of the Legend, waiting there... for what? To say goodbye? To him? An enemy?
"So it's time, isn't it?" asked the scoutboy at first glance. Leonard known that voice, the man at the high-tech suit. Ray. He walked over to Leonard and reached out to shake his hand. "You past yourself is pretty jerk. But I like to see you again, Snart." he smiled at him, as if Leonard didn't try to kill him a few hours ago.
"Yeah, I believe it." Leonard stretched and suspiciously looked at him, then turned back to him without giving him a hand. Leonard don't shaking.
"Mr. Snart." said the oldest man of the group. "Now I realize how long journey you've gone before you've become the man we've had the honor of knowing, so I'd like to apologize for my previous haughty behavior. Or my future behavior? This different timelines are stunning." the man was excited. Professor, surely a professor, he spoke as one.
"Really, Gray. Stunning? Again? Don't you know another words?" The young black man shook his head. Could that kid legally drink? Didn't heroes have some age limits in their profession, like: You can't fight with us if you are not entitled to drink with us after heroic work.
"You must admit, Jefferson, that this word is perfect for this situation." replied old man.
Leonard just rolled his eyes again. "Any other messages to future which will never happen because I refuse to become a fucking hero?" He said uninterestedly.
The Britishman Rip was silent, the black woman burning him with a contemptuous glance, and the scoutboy 2.0, who could change to metal, angrily showed his hands at his direction and showed shaking his head, as if he want to say: See, I told you. But I was Sara who started speak. "I know, you refuse it now. You've always refused to play according to the script." she snorted, then she leaned her head and smiled. "But you'll do it anyway." They stared at each other for a long second, expecting what was going to happen. Then Sara's smile faded. "Just no killing, Leonard. No, if it is not necessary." Leonard leaned his head to one side, why does she care for it at all? "You're better than this." she added quietly.
"Yeah, sure." Leonard answered, looking doubtfully at him from head to foot. Then he looked at Mick, and he motioned for the smaller ship to board. Leonard turned to Sara's back and walked barely two steps as he paused and said, "Screw it!" He turned back to her. And to surprise everyone, including Sara herself, he grabbed her, pulled her against him and kissed her hard. It was harsh, quick, and they would both will have a bit of a toothache after that. He didn't do that, because he like her or, how much Leonard hate that word, love her. He just wanted to tease her. Leave the ship as the winner of their little game of the superiority that they started in the cell. And thanks to this he won.
Sara didn't have time to react. He pulled away from her and smirked complacently at her surprised expression. And now the icing on the cake. "Yeah, you're right, maybe I will do it." He bent over to her ear and added in a whisper: "Because this was definitely worth it. Perhaps you will enjoy it the next time, Sara." he was specially elongate her name, as if he had always said it. He liked how it sound. He looked at the rest of the Legends. They were confused, he liked it too. "In another time, guys." he smirked sarcastically and stepped into a small ship. Mick followed him. Before her door closed, he heard how the team splashed questions on Sara. It's a shame he can't stay a little longer watching the show.
"So you finally got your kiss, huh?" Mick sneered as the door closed behind them.
"Wasn't first one." Leonard retorted. He wasn't in the mood for a friendly conversation.
"Sit down." Mick said, pointing to several seats what looked like a roller coaster. Leonard sat in the first and Mick pinned him. "To don't do something stupid during the journey."
Leonard laughed. "You've got a wisdom, who would have said it."
Mick grunted at he sat down himself. The hangar door opened and they entered the green glow of time-space. The ship was shaking, and Leonard getting sick. But Mick was obviously immune to these symptoms, or he got used to it. When they landed, or at least Leonard thought they landed, they were in the dark. Mick loosed Leonard, grabbed his arm, and pulled him roughly to his feet. "Come on, let's go."
"How can you see something here, Mick? There's pitch dark." Leonard growled and Mick laughed.
"It's night, but there's no such darkness." Leonard paused. Mick can see? "You suffer from temporary blindness. The side effect of time traveling, it will improve." Mick calmed him and pulling him in front of him, still clutching Leonard's shoulder to not stumble.
And he was right, after a while Leonard saw the blurry outlines, it was enough. "I can see now, Mick." he said, pulling out of Mick's grip. They were in some warehouse, but because of the blur vision he couldn't determine where. Mick pushed him in front of him, nodding to the metal double-leafed door in front of them to he open it. And Leonard did it. As he knew Mick, he got rid of him there. "Should you done this in France, Mick. Could save us both a lot of time." He won't beg for mercy he won't give him that pleasure.
"I didn't bring you here to kill you, Leonard." Mick muttered and walked in front of him. This place, the boxes, it was familiar to Leonard.
"So, what do we doing here?" This was his warehouse. Warehouse number 4. In adjacent room he planned to steal the Kahndaq dynasty diamond.
"This is where Thawne were recruiting you for rhe Legion." Mick said as he opened another door to the river. Their faces were illuminated by the city lights. They both stared at them for a moment, Leonard to focus, Mick to take the courage to the next step. He take a deep breath and turned to Leonard. "I'm gonna wipe you memory and put you on the right path." That's what they planned. That's why he told him without a shame what was waiting for him. And why Sara was so sure that even if they told him how he died he will do it anyway. But maybe he can convince Mick not to do it. Here he doesn't have a team against him to whispered in his ear what is right.
"You mean the path where I join up wiwth some brit twit and die, trying to save the world." he asked mockingly as he slowly approached Mick to make him nervous.
"No. You die trying to save your friends."
God, they had to washed his brain. „Still a death sentence." Leonard muttered absently and stared at the bay.
"You know what your punishment is, Leonard?" Leonard didn't look at him. But Mick replied anyway. "You end up being a better man. So do I." Leonard didn't endure it and snorted.
"Better?" Leonard asked mockingly, looking at him. "You mean softer!" he accused him.
"No. I mean better." Mick countered. Then he picked up the strange thing he held in his right hand and flashed.
xxx
Leonard didn't understand how he got into the back of the warehouse. The last thing he remembered was how he bent over the plans of the Monday robbery. Now he was staring at the bay, his vision blurred, and have one of the hell migraine. He heard the door behind him. He turned swiftly, nobody was there. He walked over to the metal double-winged door and opened it open. Nobody was there. He walked through the long corridor. It was empty in the big parking lot, but he heard a strange sound like an airplane. But he didn't see anything. He ran back and searched every room. No one anywhere. It wasn't move with anything. He must imagined it.
After a while, his current partner, Andy, came in. "I've got the tow truck, Snart." he told him.
"Yeah, right," Leonard murmured absently.
"Joe and Dan will arrive tomorrow morning." Andy continued. Leonard merely nodded and went to look at the plans again. He saw them few minutes ago, but it feld like it was all day. But it doesn't matter. What matter is that in two days they steal a precious diamond. He have to make sure every second will go exactly as he planed it.
xxx
xxxxx
xxx
As you surely find out, it happened just before Captain Cold's first appearance in Flash S01Ep04. And yes, later it will be a pairing of Captain Canary. But it will not be about a fulfilled love, rather a little pre-relationship.
